The sight, once more, of this servant of God, setting out again upon his perilous travels--seen at such a moment, when the boy's judgment hung in the balance (as he thought); this one single reminder of what a priest could do in these days of sorrow, and of what God called on him to do--the vision, for it was scarcely less, all things considered, of a life such as this--presented, so to say, in this single scene of a furtive and secret ride before the dawn, leaving Padley soon after midnight--this, falling on a soul that already leaned that way, finished that for which Marjorie had prayed, and against which the lad himself had fought so fiercely.
* * * * * Half an hour later he stood by his father's bed, looking down on him without fear.
"Father," he said, as the old man stared up at him through sleep-ridden eyes, "I have come to give you my answer.

It is that I must go to Rheims and be a priest." Then he turned again and went out of the room, without waiting..